Mystery Shopping - Chiltern

[telstarbox]

One of the mystery shopping agencies are currently offering mystery shopping assignments on Chiltern services,usually between Marylebone and Banbury.

The assignments include making a purchase from the buffet. The agency pays a fee plus reimbursement for the ticket and purchase.

 

[doningtonphil]

This brings bag memories of an assignment I had for a Mystery Shopping company working on Midland Mainline. Between Derby and Chesterfield we would check everyones tickets to see the price they paid and when they bought them - for journeys from London.

Oh the fun we had as two strangers sat next to each other found out that the one that had just bought the ticket before boarding the train had paid considerably less than someone who had bought weeks in advance. of course I could just point them in the direction of the train staff.

I remember one journey on a Meridian, one of the vehicles lost its power. The train staff decided to 'limp' back to Derby at 20mph with a flashing lamp hooked on the back of the train. The carriage got extremely warm (except the empty first class section which still had A/C. The only people in that section were me and the on board staff.

The best mystery shop as far as I was concerned was Burger King. You got paid a fee for going, purchase reimbursed and mileage. Trying to do all 6 Burger Kings within 10 miles of Derby in one afternoon was a bit much - of course I had to taste every purchase!!

 

[route:oxford]

MSing is good fun. Although it actually pays very little.

A few years back it was noted by a major chain that I was a regular visitor to their hotel throughout the UK and I was invited to become part of their MS team.

Unfortunately, I was identified as an MSer by a hotel manager who undertook a bit of cross-referencing from the audit results. He then circulated a CCTV capture of me to hotel managers in his chain. So I lost that little bit of income.

But... Although I was no longer a MSer, hotel staff were never overly convinced that I wasn't. So it meant that the moment I walked through the door of the hotel staff would be running to the counter to cut queues, be falling over themselves to assist, I'd always be upgraded to the best room available, room service was prompt and there'd never be an issue getting a table in the restaurant.

 

[tgsh2011]

Any MSer will know that you should not openly name clients on forums. That being said there is a major mystery shop of a major mainline at the moment involving journeys in standard and first class, asking lots of silly questions!

 

[jon0844]

Journeys in both standard and first class and asking silly questions? Aren't they also known as Reading commuters?

 

[PermitToTravel]

Mystery shopping work on the railway is readily available through plural agencies. Shopper agreements all state that you shouldn't ever discuss in public which firms are customers of which mystery shopping agencies, as it is a very competitive industry.

 

[RailAleFan]

I used to work in high street retail and the mystery shoppers may as well have come in wearing hi-vis with "MYSTERY SHOPPER" written on the back such was their blatantly obvious deviance from normal customer behaviour.

 

[jon91]

Best bit of mystery shopping I did was a group of Challenge 25 test purchases for a major supermarket. Yea, the pay per store was lousy but student me was happy with the free booze I got from it.

 

[causton]

Meanwhile, in the company I currently work for the area managers (from other areas obviously, so you don't recognise them) go out and do the mystery shop themselves, so they know exactly what standards the stores have to work to!

 

[Jonfun]

Before I started working for the railways I used to do mystery shopping and similar to keep me going through uni, and I can genuinely say my experience from it has helped develop my customer service skills, as you get to see the really bad, and the really good.

Railway-wise I've done stuff on behalf of Network Rail (Major Stations) and ATOC, and outside those I've done stuff for various high street chains, restaurants, pubs, and later on I focussed on age verification jobs, where generally I'd get given a list of stores in a given area that needed auditing and be paid to travel down there and do them all in one go. Occasionally you'd pick up a Wetherspoons or Nando's job too on the way back so dinner was sorted too

Some job specifications make it so obvious you're a mystery shopper that you might as well not bother, but with most you're generally allowed a bit of flexibility to adapt and play it out a bit. Ironically, the only time I clocked that the staff thought I was a mystery shopper was when I was genuinely in the shop in question to buy Toothpaste...

 

[jon91]

Yea, I found that with the big chains of supermarkets. Being made to ask loads of bone questions and trying to read the staff member's nametag without them clocking you doing it, you might as well have a flashing light on your head for how subtle it is.

 

[DelayRepay]

I used to do this to earn extra cash when I was a student. At the time lots of the SSP outlets at stations used to have regular shops. If I could get enough work I could have a free day out in another town, eating at various outlets and visiting a selection of mobile phone shops.

I did get recognised a couple of times I'm sure, but the staff didn't say anything, so they got a good report.

One of these companies still have my details on their books and even though it's been about ten years since I've done any work for them I still get occasional phone calls or texts asking if I can do an urgent job!

On the other hand, I also worked in a shop and like causton the company sent managers from other areas/head office to do the mystery shopping. Unfortunately, we did recognise most of these people and the Security Guard would normally radio through to the store manager when he saw them coming through the door

 

[causton]

On the other hand, I also worked in a shop and like causton the company sent managers from other areas/head office to do the mystery shopping. Unfortunately, we did recognise most of these people and the Security Guard would normally radio through to the store manager when he saw them coming through the door

I was going to say, once or twice the store managers recognise them as they meet up from time to time, whether it be at company dos, or the area manager/store manager moves about in their career...

...they also do very predictable things which no customer would realistically do, so by the time they're about halfway through the staff should be able to pick them out anyway

 

[DelayRepay]

I was going to say, once or twice the store managers recognise them as they meet up from time to time, whether it be at company dos, or the area manager/store manager moves about in their career...

Off topic but this reminds me of one of those "Back to the Floor" shows on TV, where the CEO of a company goes back to work on the shop floor, normally pretending to be a new employee in some kind of disguise.

On this occasion, the "new employee" (who was the CEO) turned up on his first day and was taken to the office to meet the manager. They spotted him straight away, mainly because on the office wall was a poster showing the CEO giving out an award.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Some job specifications make it so obvious you're a mystery shopper that you might as well not bother.

Yes...Like "Order a half of <x>" in a pub, or "Order a small drink" in a coffee shop. Not at all obvious... *cough*

 

[DelayRepay]

Yes...Like "Order a half of <x>" in a pub, or "Order a small drink" in a coffee shop. Not at all obvious... *cough*

Or ask the bar staff to recommend a lager. Seriously... who would do that?!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

A mystery shopper!

 

[Railsigns]

Being made to ask loads of bone questions and trying to read the staff member's nametag without them clocking you doing it

Bet that was quite a humerus situation.

 

[doningtonphil]

the bizarre thing about some mystery shops is that the store know when someone is expected. i was in the queue at BK at East Midlands Airport and the manager walked into the serving area and shouted to the staff to get tidying up as the mystery shopper is due soon!!!
Whats the point?

Another one was going to Wickes Builders Merchants at 0700 in the morning. You are supposed to ask three very different questions of different staff, but at that time there is only 1 member of staff around

 

[Jonfun]

It's interesting though that even though in a lot of cases they know when you're due (or, perhaps in more cases, when you're not) some places still aren't on the ball. I'm reminded of a high street home furnishings store I visited where the only member of the team who I could find anything to compliment about was someone who's name badge proudly proclaimed they were on work experience, and the betting shop where as I walked in, the two staff loudly discussed whether they'd had their mystery shopper yet, and came to the conclusion that, it was all right - he'd been yesterday.

 

[CyrusWuff]

the bizarre thing about some mystery shops is that the store know when someone is expected. i was in the queue at BK at East Midlands Airport and the manager walked into the serving area and shouted to the staff to get tidying up as the mystery shopper is due soon!!!
Whats the point?

Quite...I did a "mystery" shop at a hotel a while back and got a complimentary room upgrade at check-in...Coincidence? I think not!

 

[jon91]

Bet that was quite a humerus situation.

Well played sir.

 

[trentside]

I've actually heard disgruntled customers claim to be mystery shoppers before at a few locations. I had to bite my lip and point out to them that doing so would invalidate their assignment - the staff seemed to actually believe them on a few occasions though.

It's something I did consider doing while at university - but never did!

 

[WelshBluebird]

Or ask the bar staff to recommend a lager. Seriously... who would do that?!

To be fair, in some places (Brewdog comes to mind) asking for a recommendation is almost expect by the staff.

 

[CyrusWuff]

I've actually heard disgruntled customers claim to be mystery shoppers before at a few locations. I had to bite my lip and point out to them that doing so would invalidate their assignment - the staff seemed to actually believe them on a few occasions though.

There are occasional assignments (mostly those involving financial institutions) where you have to "reveal" yourself at some point during the shop.

Audits are another one where you usually need a reveal...except those for a certain chain of takeaways.

 

[jon91]

There are occasional assignments (mostly those involving financial institutions) where you have to "reveal" yourself at some point during the shop.

Audits are another one where you usually need a reveal...except those for a certain chain of takeaways.

If a store fails a Challenge 25 test purchase you have to find the duty manager and tell them, been doing them for a while now and have only had to do that a handful of times.

 

[bluenoxid]

Off topic but this reminds me of one of those "Back to the Floor" shows on TV, where the CEO of a company goes back to work on the shop floor, normally pretending to be a new employee in some kind of disguise.

On this occasion, the "new employee" (who was the CEO) turned up on his first day and was taken to the office to meet the manager. They spotted him straight away, mainly because on the office wall was a poster showing the CEO giving out an award.

Yes that was the security company.

 

[DelayRepay]

To be fair, in some places (Brewdog comes to mind) asking for a recommendation is almost expect by the staff.

Maybe, but this was a chain of pubs which is well known for it's good value food and drink. The lagers to choose from are Carling, Stella and Fosters... (to make this slightly on-topic, said chain has a few branches at railway stations!)

 

[CyrusWuff]

Maybe, but this was a chain of pubs which is well known for it's good value food and drink. The lagers to choose from are Carling, Stella and Fosters... (to make this slightly on-topic, said chain has a few branches at railway stations!)

Slightly more on topic, a station pub has a sign outside that says words to the effect of "We're proud of our beer".

They have the following available on tap: Stella, Heineken, Fosters and Strongbow...

 

[daccer]

Hi Guys,

I am looking at moving back to the UK shortly and would be interested in looking at Mystery Shopping work on the railways whilst I find something more permanent. Does anyone know of and current opportunities - I am Midlands based but am happy to move around.

Cheers